


Honor Bound

by the_obiwan_for_me



Series: She Said the Word AU [5]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, GingerMandos, Mandalorian Civil War (Star Wars), Mandalorians (Star Wars), Planet Mandalore (Star Wars), Young Love, bofenn, teenagers in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:28:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28134693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_obiwan_for_me/pseuds/the_obiwan_for_me
Summary: Bo-Katan Kryze and Fenn Rau face the cruel realities of war and duty, and struggle to come to terms with what it means for their young love.
Relationships: Bo-Katan Kryze/Fenn Rau
Series: She Said the Word AU [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1942408
Comments: 8
Kudos: 25





	Honor Bound

**Author's Note:**

> I woke up to these two in my head talking about this little bit of their history. Then my enablers encouraged it into being. So, here we go.
> 
> For reference, Bo is 15. Fenn is 17.
> 
> While this is written technically within the "She Said the Word" AU and will be included in its series, it can work with canon, too. No need to read a single word of SSTW....but you should.

Fenn walked out of the Protectors makeshift headquarters and right into Bo-Katan, who threw herself into his arms, in complete disregard for any sort of stealth or decorum. He didn’t blame her. It had been a hell of a few days for her and her sister. All of them, really. But he still gently pried her arms from around his neck and pulled her gently down the corridor and into an empty room.

Now, with some privacy, he pulled her into his arms and clung to her. She pressed herself into his beskar, desperate to not let go. Not to lose one more person she loved. His heart felt like it would shatter. She was not going to take his news well.

Long moments past as he just held her in the sunset lit room, cradling her head to his shoulder, breathing in her faintly floral mixed with sweat scent that he had come to think of as uniquely Bo in the past months. He never wanted to let her go. He wanted to stay by her side, to keep her safe, to fight valiantly with her until they were either both dead, or peace reigned. Whichever came first.

He finally broke away, only a little. He bent his head, resting his forehead to hers, and looked into her red rimmed eyes. She had been all but inconsolable since her father’s death three days ago, and her sweet, freckled face showed it. He kissed each of her tear stained cheeks, then rested his head to hers again.

“I have new orders,” he whispered, finally admitting the thing he did not want to accept, but would.

“Oh?” she replied simply, her voice a rough whisper from days of crying and shouting. From weeks and months of breathing in smoke and dust.

He nodded against her head, squeezing his eyes shut tight, trying to hide from the inevitable truth.

“You know you’re going to Kalevala,” he said. Of course she did. That had been the plan for weeks. Long before her father’s death. 

She nodded. “We leave in the morning,” she reminded him.

He took in a shuddering breath, and shook his head. “Not we. You, Bo.”

She pulled away from him roughly, pushing him to arm’s distance. “What do you mean?”

Fenn tried to gather her back up close to him, but she resisted. He dropped his arms away. “I mean you are to go to Kalevala with some from the clan. Satine has to stay here.  _ Needs  _ to stay here. I have been ordered to her detail.”

“You’re leaving me?” The betrayal was thick in her voice, and her eyes went glassy with tears.

“Bo,  _ cyare _ , you know I don’t want to leave you,” Fenn pleaded, his hand twitching to reach for her, but knowing she would bat him away, best case scenario. “I  _ have  _ to follow orders. Your sister is the leader now. I am a Protector. I am honor bound to protect her.”

She growled in anger and turned away, moving to the window. Smoke billowed off in the distance. Another day, another bombing. “You’re sworn to protect the royal family. What about me? Do I not count anymore?”

Fenn scrubbed a hand across his face, fighting back his frustration. “Of course you count, Bo-Katan. Don’t be ridiculous.” She swung around and glared at him, but he ignored her ugly look. “You know there are too few of us. There’s barely enough to keep Satine safe. That’s why they are sending you away. It’s most likely only for a few weeks.”

Her features softened then. This was news to her. “Oh?”

“The clan voted. They’re reaching out to the Republic. There is talk of Jedi coming into help.” They both screwed their faces up in unison at the distasteful idea of Jedi on Mandalore. 

“What can they do?” she asked, taking a step back toward him.

Fenn shrugged. A lot of the information given out in the briefing had been far over his head. At seventeen, he barely grasped Mandalorian politics, let alone the unwieldy monster that was the Republic. “I guess they hope they can come in and negotiate. But there is talk of sending you and Satine away with them. For now.”

“So we would still be apart?” Bo’s whole body seemed to wilt. She stepped back again.

“Bo, it will only be a short time. I’m sure of it. It’s to keep you both safe.”

She roared, clasping her head in both her hands. “I don’t want to be safe! I want to be with you.”

This time he did go to her, dragging her back into his arms, despite her protests. He held her, waited for her to just  _ breathe  _ for a moment. “I want to be with you, too, Bo. But I also want you safe. If this is what it takes, we have to accept it and know that we  _ will  _ be together again.” He kissed the top of her head, ran a hand soothingly down to the length of her braid, wild and messy, sorely in need of rebraiding. “Alright,  _ cyare _ ?”

She shuddered in his arms, her shoulders shaking as she silently cried. Fenn was about to be just one more person she loved that she would lose, and he hated himself for it. “We will be together at the end. I promise you, Bo.  _ Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum.” _

She finally looked up at him and nodded. “ _ Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum.” _

He kissed her, then, and prayed to their ancestors that he hadn’t unwittingly lied to her. 

* * *

  
  


_ Eighteen months later…. _

“No one knows where she is, Fenn,” the Duchess said softly, their heads bowed close together as she shared the news that neither wanted to know. “Mostly likely she was killed in one of the Sundari attacks shortly after I left.”

He nodded solemnly, but refrained from speaking. He was afraid if he opened his mouth, the horror of his broken promises to Bo-Katan would drown him. 

The Duchess took his hand, squeezed it gently, trying to comfort him, though he could see she was as broken as he was. “We won’t give up hope, Fenn. So many people are displaced right now. We’ll hold on to our hope, right, my friend?”

He took a deep shuddering breath. Nodded again, but couldn’t look his Duchess in the eyes. He stared down at her hand clasped in his. It was long and elegant. Like Bo’s. 

“Take some time, Fenn. I know she meant so much to you,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper, hoarse from fighting her own tears. 

“Yes, your grace,” he finally managed to choke out around his grief. 

The Duchess stood, and he jumped to follow suit. To his surprise, she pulled him into an embrace. “You did your duty, Protector. She may have been upset, but she ultimately knew you were honor bound. Know that, alright?” He nodded. “Have hope. She may still be out there.” He nodded again, but didn’t feel the hope his Duchess spoke of. She pulled back from the embrace, rubbed one of those long, elegant hands down his arm, then smoothed her gown. “Thank you, Protector.”

It was a dismissal. He bowed, and left the little garden. He left, but carried his grief with him. The weight of his broken promises crushing him. He left the palace, and walked, and walked. Walked until he found the now bombed out building that had been the last place he had kissed Bo. It wasn’t much of a physical place to remember her, but it was all he had. 

He picked his way through the rubble, found a spot that may have once been a sunset lit room where two young lovers stood, facing the reality of being torn apart by war. He looked to the horizon. Instead of smoke, there were cranes, clearing debris and building super structures.

He let his grief come.

“I'm sorry, Bo-Katan.  _ Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum.” _

**Author's Note:**

> Mando'a lesson for the day!  
> Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum- I love you (I believe the literal translation is "I hold you in my heart forever" but I can't find that. Correct me if I am wrong). 
> 
> You all are the best!


End file.
